Teachers picket CHED, demand Neri's resignation

Militant teachers on Tuesday picketed the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) headquarters in Pasig City to demand the resignation of the agency's chairman, Romulo Neri. The Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT), which led the protest action, said Neri had lost his moral authority to run the agency, after he allegedly suppressed the truth behind the anomalies in the National Broadband Network (NBN) project. According to ACT chairman Antonio Tinio, despite Neri's knowledge that the NBN project was tainted with corruption, he still approved the proposal for the project when he was director general of the National Economic and Development Authority. "Given his decision to approve the sordid ZTE contract and his efforts to suppress the testimony of Rodolfo Lozada, Chairman Romulo Neri has lost all moral authority to lead the CHED. Therefore he must resign," said Tinio. Last year, Neri testified before the Senate that Benjamin Abalos, then chairman of the Commission on Elections, offered him a bribe of P200 million for the approval of the deal between the Philippine government and China's Zhong Xing Telecommunications Equipment Corporation for the $329.48-million NBN project. But after the said testimony, Neri no longer participated in the inquiry prompting the Senate to issue an arrest warrant against him. The ACT said Neri might have even tried to help in preventing Lozada from attending the Senate hearing on the NBN project. "While, at one point, he could still pass himself off as a whistle blower who exposed Abalos for attempted bribery, Neri has now cast his lot with President Arroyo and her cabal. We have no illusions, he won't turn against his patrons. Clearly, Neri has already gone over to the dark side," said Tinio. A statement from the ACT said teachers and employees from state colleges and universities, including the University of the Philippines, Polytechnic University of the Philippines, Philippine Normal University, and the Eulogio "Amang" Rodriguez Institute of Science and Technology, participated in the demonstration. - GMANews.TV